Dive into VB .NET's control structures and learn how to control the order of events in your programs. Study the basics of the If and Do statements and their variations, the For/Next structure and much more.

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Objectives

To use the If/Then and
If/Then/Else selection structures to
choose among alternative actions.

To use the While, DoWhile/Loop
and Do Until/Loop repetition structures to
execute statements in a program repeatedly.

To use the assignment operators.

To use the For/Next,
Do/LoopWhile and Do/LoopUntil
repetition structures to execute statements in a program
repeatedly.

To understand multiple selection as implemented by the Select Case
selection structure.

To use the ExitDo and ExitFor program control
statements.

To use logical operators.

Who can control his fate?
William Shakespeare

Man is a tool-making animal.
Benjamin Franklin

Intelligence... is the faculty of making artificial objects, especially
tools to make tools.
Henri Bergson

Let's all move one place on.
Lewis Carroll

Outline

3.1

Introduction

3.2

Control Structures

3.3

If/Then Selection Structure

3.4

If/Then/Else Selection Structure

3.5

WhileRepetition Structure

3.6

DoWhile/Loop Repetition Structure

3.7

DoUntil/Loop Repetition Structure

3.8

Do/LoopWhile Repetition Structure

3.9

Do/LoopUntil Repetition Structure

3.10

Assignment Operators

3.11

For/Next Repetition Structure

3.12

Example: Using the For/Next Structure
to Compute Compound Interest

3.13

SelectCase Multiple-Selection Structure

3.14

Using the Exit Keyword in a Repetition Structure

3.15

Logical Operators

3.16

Introduction to Windows Application Programming

3.17

Summary

3.1 Introduction

In this chapter, we present control structures that enable programmers to
control the order of events in their programs. Visual Basic's sequence,
selection and repetition structures are used to select and repeat various
statements and thereby execute complex algorithms. In the process, we introduce
commonly used shorthand operators that allow the programmer quickly to calculate
and assign new values to variables. When we study object-based programming in
more depth in Chapter 5, we will see that control structures are helpful in
building and manipulating objects.